Social Media Marketing Trends To Watch Out For In 2018

Social media is one of the most versatile and exciting online marketing tool today. It is very adaptive, changing to suit the preferences and demands of the millions of users across the globe. As such, social media marketing presents innumerable advantages to those that consider its impact in marketing themselves on the internet. As the year comes nears it’s close ushering in 2018, it is vital for you to ensure that every aspect of marketing – be it content distribution, reaching your target audience or creating a following for your brand – concerning what social media has to offer.

Keeping a pulse on trends will be vital for any plans in 2018 that seek to strengthen your social media marketing strategy. In light to that, here are some of the marketing trends to prepare for that will get you on the right track come next year.

1. Increased Use Of Visual Content (Videos)

Video content may not be new, and it is a popular marketing concept with a significant influence on brand awareness. Therefore, content in literature form will not have such a massive impact in 2018 on its own. The various social media platforms will update their algorithms with the aim of growing the value of video content in regards to generating engagement, which businesses can use to build a significant following.

A survey of video content on Facebook shows that more and more people are engaging in such content with many getting comments on them and many more getting likes and shares. Instagram’s Stories feature is yet another perfect example of the direction that most other social networks and platform will be taking in 2018. However, it will be wise to find efficient ways of tying your video content to your written content such as blogs and others outside your social platforms.

2. Robust Social Analytics For Content Personalization

Content relevancy will still be paramount more so when interacting with a target audience about your brand. A huge percent of today’s online users is keen on finding what they seek; they are easily frustrated when content is not relevant to their interests. As such the marketing strategy on social media platforms with respect to content marketing will focus on improved personalization for the audiences. Given such objectives, various social platforms will seek to evolve their content analytic tools and different business-centric features to be more detailed and adding value to brands. Learn more about SEO competitive analysis.

3. Overlapping Social Platform Features

Most social platforms pay considerable attention to visual content, which has led to the introduction of nifty features such as timed videos as is the case with Instagram and Snapchat. The younger demographic has shown a preference for Snapchat over Instagram, but there has still been a notable change in the number of stories on Instagram that have registered more engagement, a 10% rise compared to Snapchat. Much of the new features across the various social media platforms seem to overlap, and thus marketers will need to be a bit more selective to ensure they are investing in the right features that have a significant marketing impact.

4. Chatbots For Faster And Easier Customer Service

Widespread internet has resulted in instant connections that this has led to a growing demand for quick responses. The current online user wants things done “yesterday,” which is not always attainable. Moreover, the rush by some brand to provide prompt responses to issues only leads to mistakes being made that this dents the quality of the customer service.

At times, the customer service personnel cannot meet the demand for speed, and thus they freeze in their tracks lost on what to do to meet the pressures and needs of the clients. That is why chatbots such as what Facebook Messenger has will be the new solution to offering prompt customer service, and businesses have the opportunity to interact quickly with their audiences in a nearly personal level. The chatbot services can be customized to suit a brand.

5. Social Platforms To Go Exclusively Mobile

It is estimated that in next few years, more than half of the U.S. social media users access Facebook will do so via mobile exclusively. It is a route that many other social platforms may opt to take given that more than 70% of their revenues come from mobile ads. Most of the pioneer social platforms such as Facebook were not designed to be mobile based, but things a taking a turn because of the stiff competition wagered by popular such as Snapchat and Instagram that come in as mobile-based social platforms in the form of apps. Given such an outlook, marketers will have to refocus their efforts to ensure that their strategies are optimized for mobile.

Social media avails many opportunities for brands to connect with their audiences through content distribution that builds brand awareness. While much of the social media marketing trends will remain their core elements, it is vital to consider the above trends as you make plans to make some few changes to your marketing strategies in 2018.